Guest guest Posted May 3, 2005 Report Share Posted May 3, 2005 Hare Krsna, Madana-mohana Prabhu. pamho. agtSP. You sent many quotes, which reveal your understanding much more. I wrote my understanding, as I read them. I hope other devotees will add their view too. It may be of some value to us to see how others react in similar situation. > Appropriate practice and association not only includes, not only demands, > but DEPENDS on proper behavior to all, as Srila BHaktivinoda Thakura says > in bhajana "Gurudeva" here: > > sakale samm€na korite akati, > deho' n€tha! Jath€jatha > tabe to' g€ibo, hari-n€ma-sukhe, > apar€dha ha 'be hata > > O lord and master! Please invest me with the power to honor all living > beings properly. ***Only then*** will I sing the holy name in great > ecstasy, free of offenses. I'm sure we could debate about the meaning of "honor all living beings properly". Of course, you may conclude, that it means caring for the needy. But I'd say you missed the point here. If our advancement would rely on helping the poor, then all altruists would be pure devotees. Bhaktivinoda is probably speaking here about seeing everybody in connection to Krsna, which includes distributing prasadam, of course. > BUT -- if anarthas are not being transcended, then we are doing something > wrong. Thats quite strong assumption. Who says, that anarthas of ISKCON devotees are not being transcended? Hare Krsna! > 21.I am present in every living entity as the Supersoul. If someone > neglects or disregards that Supersoul everywhere and engages himself in > the worship of the Deity in the temple, that is simply imitation. Engaging in welfare activities means, that we can relate properly to Supersoul? Everybody, who worships diety, but doesn't feed the poot, is imitator? > > 22.One who worships the Deity of Godhead in the temples but does not know > that the Supreme Lord, as Param€tm€, is situated in every living entity's > heart, must be in ignorance and is compared to one who offers oblations > into ashes. If one doesn't feed the poor, that proves, that he does not know that the Supreme Lord, as Param€tm€, is situated in every living entity's heart? > > 23.One who offers Me respect but is envious of the bodies of others and is > therefore a separatist never attains peace of mind, because of his > inimical behavior towards other living entities. One who doesnt engage in welfare activities is envious of the bodies of others and is therefore a separatist? > ****Even living entities who are lower than human can be raised to KŠa > consciousness by other methods. For example, ®iv€nanda Sena, a great > devotee of Lord Caitanya, delivered a dog by feeding him pras€da. > Distribution of pras€da, or remnants of foodstuffs offered to the Lord, > even to the ignorant masses of people and to animals, gives such living > entities the chance for elevation to KŠa consciousness.**** I think debate here is not whether distributing prasadam is ok or not. I think thats most clear in ISKCON, we all distribute prasadam every day in some way or another. We give it even to a dogs, like Sivananda sena did once. Still, our mission is sankirtan, congregational chanting of Hare Krsna. Now, you may say that there is better welfare activity, but you must admit, that it is just your personal opinion. Please take this fom Prabhupada: =========== The K™¢a consciousness movement is giving the population of the entire world a chance to take advantage of K™¢a consciousness through the ISKCON centers, where one may perform Deity worship and chant the Hare K™¢a mah€-mantra and in this way obtain results with effectiveness increased a thousand times. This constitutes the best welfare activity for human society. =========== Our duty, therefore, is to follow the instructions of Œr… Caitanya Mah€prabhu and preach the K™¢a consciousness movement all over the world very sincerely. This is the best welfare activity for the peace and prosperity of human society. =========== What is the busyness of these K™¢a conscious students? They are busy in chanting Hare K™¢a, in distributing knowledge in K™¢a consciousness. Therefore they are doing the best welfare work in the world. Other welfare work will be finished as soon as this body is finished. But these welfare activities will not be finished. If one hears one day, one minute, one second, this vibration of chanting, it will act someday. Therefore this is the best welfare activity in the human society. " =========== So we should take chance, and the most important mantra is mah€-mantra. Mah€-mantra. We are sleeping, but this mah€-mantra, Hare K™¢a, if we hear somehow or other... Therefore the greatest beneficial activity or welfare activity is to chant this Hare K™¢a mah€-mantra so that others can hear. =========== So chanting is so effective that it benefits even the animals, beasts, birds, insects, everyone. Go on. This is the best welfare activity. In the human society there are welfare activities for some society or nation or community or human being. But this welfare activity is beneficial not only to the human society but to the birds, beasts, tree, animal, everyone. This is the best, supermost welfare activity in the world, spread K™¢a consciousness. Go on. =========== Sa‰k…rtana yaj˜a also means distribution of knowledge. By this yaj˜a, devotees are performing the most important welfare activity. Some people think that the Hare K™¢a devotees would be doing better if they worked in some other way to help the social condition. But pleasing God is the most important thing, and if everyone did it, so many problems would be solved. =========== There is plenty quotes like this in Vedabase. We cannot neglect our primary duty. Our purpose is to please the God. We can do it in many ways, including prasadam distribution and caring for the needy, maybe even fighting for animal rights. But we can please him also by sankirtan, chanting and distributing books. And we are all different persons. So if someone is more inclined towards prasadam distribution, go on and please the Lord by that. But you cannot assume, that your service is the best of all, and blaspheme endeavors of all other devotees, calling them selfish and hardhearted. I think this mood is not proper and is actually separatist mood. ys gnd > 24.My dear Mother, even if he worships with proper rituals and > paraphernalia, a person who is ignorant of My presence in all living > entities never pleases Me by the worship of My Deities in the temple. Not helping the poor means a person who is ignorant of Lord's presence in all living entities? > > PURPORT: This gratitude and love for God is exhibited by a pure devotee, > who knows that the Lord lives in every living entity. > > ****As such, temple worship necessarily includes distribution of pras€da. Nobody is against distributing prasada. > It is not that one should create a temple in his private apartment or > private room, offer something to the Lord, and then eat. Of course, that > is better than simply cooking foodstuffs and eating without understanding > one's relationship with the Supreme Lord; people who act in this manner > are just like animals. But the devotee who wants to elevate himself to the > higher level of understanding must know that the Lord is present in every > living entity, and, as stated in the previous verse, one should be > compassionate to other living entities. A devotee should worship the > Supreme Lord, be friendly to persons who are on the same level and be > compassionate to the ignorant. One should exhibit his compassion for > ignorant living entities by distributing pras€da. Distribution of pras€da > to the ignorant masses of people is essential for persons who make > offerings to the Personality of Godhead.**** > > 25.Performing his prescribed duties, one should worship the Deity of the > Supreme Personality of Godhead until one realizes My presence in his own > heart and in the hearts of other living entities as well. > > PURPORT: Worship of the Deity of the Supreme Personality of Godhead is > prescribed herewith even for persons who are simply discharging their > prescribed duties. There are prescribed duties for the different social > classes of men—the br€hmaŠas, the vaiyas, the katriyas and the > ™dras—and for the different €ramas-brahmacarya, ghastha, v€naprastha > and sanny€sa. One should worship the Deity of the Lord until one > appreciates the presence of the Lord in every living entity. In other > words, one should not be satisfied simply by discharging his duties > properly; he must realize his relationship and the relationship of all > other living entities with the Supreme Personality of Godhead. If he does > not understand this, then even though he discharges his prescribed duties > properly, it is to be understood that he is simply laboring without > profit. > > The word sva-karma-kt in this verse is very significant. Sva-karma-kt is > one who engages in discharging his prescribed duties. It is not that one > who has become a devotee of the Lord or who engages in devotional service > should give up his prescribed duties. No one should be lazy under the plea > of devotional service. One has to execute devotional service according to > his prescribed duties. Sva-karma-kt means that one should discharge the > duties prescribed for him without neglect. > > 26.As the blazing fire of death, I cause great fear to whoever makes the > least discrimination between himself and other living entities because of > a differential outlook. > > 27.Therefore, through charitable gifts and attention, as well as through > friendly behavior and by viewing all to be alike, one should propitiate > Me, who abide in all creatures as their very Self. > > PURPORT:...The method of worshiping the individual soul is described here > as either giving charitable gifts or behaving in a friendly manner, free > from any separatist outlook. ... > > > > In other words, if we take Lord Kapila's and Srila Prabhupada's words in > their face value and admit that mass distribution of prasada to all living > entities is not just a smart PR move BUT is an essencial and indispensable > part of OUR OWN maturing in Krsna Consciousness, we will do it by all > means -- at least for owr own purification. Self purification is a very personal thing. It is a level of anarthas, which need to be given up. It doesn't seem right to assume, that everybody has this anartha, which need purification through mass distribution of prasada. Or maybe we all have this anartha, but htere are also other anarthas, that have to be dealt with first. But we may engage in mass prasada distribution, not for our purification, but because devotee in kind to all, and likes to help in all ways. > > And therefore, as Lord Krsna says in SB 11.20.9: > > t€vat karm€Ši kurv…ta > na nirvidyeta y€vat€ > mat-kath€-ravaŠ€dau v€ > raddh€ y€van na j€yate > > As long as one is not satiated by fruitive activity and has not awakened > his taste for devotional service by ravaŠaˆ k…rtanaˆ viŠoƒ [sB 7.5.23] > one has to act according to the regulative principles of the Vedic > injunctions. > > But even when we do rise to the transcendental level, we will still do it > spontaneously anyway -- out of pure and unalloyed compassion, as Srila > Prabhupada did it back in the "Matchless Gifts" storefront back in 1966, > cooking, distributing and cleaning up all by himself. > I can't help myself noticing, that you seem to value welfare activities in a intersting way. All those quotes really support mass prasada distribution, but do not exclude other preaching programs. It may be helphul to meditate on our smallness, how we are just a tiny part of Prabhupada's ISKCON. We may not be the greatest and most realized. There are devotees, who understand better, that we do. We are most lucky, if we can get opinion of senior devotees. It is wise to hear their opinions, even if they hurt our understanding. It is not nice to nullify all others, just to promote our point of view. ys gnd Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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